ECCENTRICITIES
OF
THE ANIMAL CREATION.
BY JOHN TIMBS.
AUTHOR OF "THINGS NOT GENERALLY KNOWN."
WITH EIGHT ENGRAVINGS.
SEELEY, JACKSON, AND HALLIDAY, 54, FLEET-STREET.
LONDON. MDCCCLXIX.
The right of translation is reserved.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTORY.—CURIOSITIES OF ZOOLOGY.
Natural History in Scripture, and Egyptian Records, 11.—Origin of Zoological Gardens, 12.—The Greeks and Romans, 12.—Montezuma's Zoological Gardens, 13.—Menagerie in the Tower of London, 14.—Menagerie in St. James's Park, 14.—John Evelyn's Notes, 15.—Ornithological Society, 15.—Continental Gardens, 16.—Zoological Society of London instituted, 16; its most remarkable Animals, 16.—Cost of Wild Animals, 18.—Sale of Animals, 20.—Surrey Zoological Gardens, 20.—Wild-beast Shows, 21.
Ancient History, 22, 23.—One-horned and Two-horned, 25, 26.—Tractability, 25.—Bruce and Sparmann, 27.—African Rhinoceros in 1868, 27.—Description of, 29.—Burchell's Rhinoceros, 30.—Horn of the Rhinoceros, 31, 32.
Sirens of the Ancients, 33.—Classic Pictures of Mermaids, 34.—Leyden's Ballad, 35.—Ancient Evidence, 36, 37, 38.—Mermaid in the West Indies, 39.—Mermaids, Seals, and Dugongs, 41.—Mermaids and Manatee, 42.—Test for a Mermaid, 43.—Mermaid [Pg 4] of 1822, 43.—Japanese Mermaids, 44.—Recent Evidence, 47, 48.
Ctesias and Wild Asses, 65.—Aristotle, Herodotus, and Pliny,50.—Modern Unicorns, 50.—Ancient Evidence, 51.—Hunting theUnicorn, 52.—Antelopes, 53, 54.—Cuvier and the Oryx, 54.—TibetanAnimal, 55.—Klaproth's Evidence, 55.—Rev. John Campbell's Evidence,57.—Baikie on, 58.—Factitious Horns in Museums, 59.—Unicorn in theRoyal Arms, 60.—Catching the Unicorn, 60.—Belief in Unicorns, 61.
Economy of the Mole, 62.—Its Structure, 63.—Fairy Rings; Feelingof the Mole, 64.—Le Court's Experiments, 62, 65.—Hunting-grounds,67.—Loves of the Moles, 68, 69.—Persecution of Moles.—Shrew Mole,70.—Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, on Moles, 71.
The Ant-Bear of 1853, 72, 73.—Mr. Wallace, on the Amazon, describesthe Ant-Bear, 73.—Food of the Ant-Bear, 74.—His Resorts, 75.—Habitsin Captivity, by Professor Owen, 76-80.—Fossil Ant-Bear, 80,81.—Tamandua Ant-Bear, 82—Von S